Moving from ‘gut feeling’ to ‘pure facts’: Launching the ASI interview as part of in-service training for social workers

Abstract

Several standardized assessment instruments have been introduced in social work in the last 10 years. One such instrument, the Addiction Severity Index, is used today in the Swedish social services, as well as in the prison and probation services. Swedish state authorities have strongly declared their intention to implement the Addiction Severity Index interview, though critics are sceptical towards both its practical relevance and epistemological grounds. Given this background, the launch of the Addiction Severity Index interview is important as a case of how new instruments (flagged under the banner of evidence-based practice) are introduced into the field of social work. The aim of this article is to analyse how the Addiction Severity Index interview is presented and taught through in-service training for Swedish social workers. From observations of in-service training sessions, two professional styles seem to surface: ‘traditional’ and ‘new’. The trainer tends to use contrasting dichotomies as resources for constructing these professional styles. For example, ‘objectivity’ and ‘scientificity’ are presented as new professional ideals, rather than common sense or ‘gut feeling’, the latter of which is connected to traditional social work. The construction of a new professional style can be seen as an endeavour to achieve professional status in a more classical sense, partly by making the profession and its content more visible, but also by asserting its legitimacy as evidence-based work.